Madness and Insanity in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay example -- GCSE Eng

settlement and Insanity William Shakespeares design of the character of hamlet within the tragedy of that name left rough the question of whether the madness of the protagonist is entirely feigned or not. This strain will treat this aspect of the drama. George Lyman Kittredge in the Introduction to The cataclysm of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, explains the insufficiency of success with Hamlets pretended insanity, and in so doing he implies that the madness is entirely feigned and not real The necessity for rough device like the play within the play is due to the ruin of Hamlets assumed madness to achieve its purpose. . . . In Shakespeares drama, however, Hamlets motive for acting the madman is obvious. We speak unguardedly in the presence of children and madmen, for we take it for granted that they will not listen or will not understand and so the King or the milksop (for Hamlet does not know that his mother is ignorant of her husbands crime) may say something that will a fford the evidence needed to substantiate the testimony of the Ghost. The device is adopted on the spur of the moment (i.5, 169ff.), and, erst adopted, it must be maintained. But it is unsuccessful. The King is always on his guard, and the top executive is not an accomplice. (xii) The question arises Is it truly possible to have a august tragical hero who is indeed bereft of the proper use of his rational faculties? Doesnt this lack compromise the very essence of a dread protagonist who is worthy of the tragic ending? A.C. Bradley in Shakespearean cataclysm staunchly adheres to the belief that Hamlet would cease to be a tragic character if he were really mad at any conviction in the play (30). On the other hand, W. Thomas MacCary in Hamlet A Guide ... .... Cambridge Univ. P., 1956. Kittredge, George Lyman. Introduction. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. In Five Plays of Shakespeare. Ed. George Lyman Kittredge. New York Ginn and Company, 1941. MacCary, W. Thomas. Hamlet A Guide to the Play. Westport, CN Greenwood Press, 1998. Mack, Maynard. The World of Hamlet. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. Ed. David Bevington. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Rosenberg, Marvin. Laertes An spontaneous but Earnest Young Aristocrat. Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ Univ. of Delaware P., 1992. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http//www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos.